Collapsible leather workpiece supports



March 20, 1956 D. EDGAR COLLAPSIBLE LEATHER WORKPIECE SUPPORTS Filed April 18, 1955 Inventor David Edgar United States Patent COLLAPSIBLE LEATHER WORKPIECE SUPPORTS David Edgar, Lynn, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 18, 1955, Serial No. 501,961

3 Claims. (Cl. 69-49) The present invention relates to collapsible leather workpiece supports and in particular to supports which may be collapsed from an inverted V-form to substantially a planar support.

For several reasons it is desirable to have leather work piece supports or horses which may be collapsible or adjustable between an inverted V-form and a planar horizontal support. Such need is exemplified by certain requirements of automatic leather stacking machines of the type disclosed in application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 251,014, filed October 12, 1951, in the names of Paul E. Morgan, Arthur R. Abbott and John J. Maciejowski. In that type of stacking machine it is impractical to lay long workpieces out flat and therefore they must be stacked on a horse of inverted V-form. After the stacking operation it is often necessary to lay the workpieces out fiat for purposes of inspection to facilitate mulling of the workpieces or for other purposes in leather manufacture.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved leather workpiece support which may be collapsed from inverted V-form to a planar support.

More particularly and in accordance with various features of the invention a jointed work support is provided. This support comprises two pivotally connected members which form two work supporting surfaces. A cable controlled linkage arrangement is provided for maintaining the supporting surfaces of these members either in a horizontal plane or in an inverted V-form. The two supporting members are spaced apart at the pivotal connection therebetween and preferably are interconnected by a flexible member. The important feature to be noted is that when the members are in inverted V-form the supporting surfaces terminate below the center of the pivotal connection. With this arrangement foreshortening of the supporting surfaces is substantially eliminated as the support is collapsed to bring the supporting surfaces into a horizontal plane. Thus the lowermost workpieces in a stack laid upon the support will not be wrinkled or folded when the support is collapsed. This is of great importance since the weight of the workpieces in the stack will permanently crease the lowermost workpieces if they become folded or wrinkled to any substantial degree.

The above and other features of the invention including various novel details of construction and combina- 2,738,664 Patented Mar. 20, 1956 Referring to the figures, two wooden sheets 10, 12 provide the primary work supporting surfaces for my collapsible horse. At either side of the sheets 10, 12, rails 14 and 16 respectively, are secured. The two sets of rails 14, 16 are pivotally connected by pins 18. Plates 20 are pivotally connected to the rails 14 while plates 22 are pivotally connected to the rails 16. Each plate 20 and 22 carries a caster mounted wheel 24. Links 26 interconnect the plates 20 and the rails 16 while links 28 interconnect the rails 14 and the plates 22. Plugs 30 extending from the links 26, 28 provide stop means which limit downward movement of the pivotal connection 18 so that the work supporting surfaces formed by the sheets 10, 12 will be in substantially a horizontal plane.

In order to draw the plates 20, 22 toward each other to bring the work supporting sheets 10, 12 to a V-form the following means are provided. A drum 32 is carried by a shaft 34 which extends between the plates 20, while a second drum 36 is secured to a shaft 38 extending between the plates 22. A handle 40 is fastened to the shaft 38 thereby providing means for rotating the drum 36. A cable 42 is wrapped around the drum 36, extends around the drum 32 and is secured to a lug 44 on one of the plates 22. When it is desired to raise the horse from its horizontal poition seen in Fig. 1 to the inverted V-form seen in Fig. 2, the drum 36 is rotated by the handle 40 to wind the cable 42 about said drum. Thereby the plates 20, 22 are drawn inwardly toward each other causing the pivotal connection 18 to be raised. The weight of the horse as well as the weight of the workpieces which will be stacked thereon tend to collapse the horse from its V-form. Therefore, a stop pin 46 may be inserted in a hole 48 in one plate 22 to prevent movement of the handle 40 and lock the horse in its V position.

Referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the sheets 10 and 12 which form the work supporting surfaces terminate at a point below the pivotal connection 18 when the support is in V-form. This gap in the composite work supporting surface is interconnected by a flexible member 50 which extends between the sheets 10 and.12. The member 50 may be formed of rubber, heavy leather or other material which is flexible and yet sufliciently rigid to maintain a smooth, curved surface when said supports are in V-form.

It will also be seen that when the support is in its V-form the work supporting surfaces provided by the sheets 10 and 12 as well as the supporting surface of the flexible member 50 lie below the center of the pivotal connection 18. Three workpieces W are illustrated as being carried by the horse and it will be noted that they also lie beneath this center. This feature is of great importance in transforming the horse to a flat condition without wrinkling the workpieces W. It will be appreciated from the phantom showing in Fig. 3 that the supporting surfaces of the sheet 10 and 12 will foreshorten a negligible amount when said sheets are swung to a horizontal plane. That is the supporting surfaces of said members are moved toward each other a very slight amount since said surfaces lie just above the pivotal connection 18 when the sheets 10, 12 lie in a horizontal plane. While foreshortening could be entirely eliminated it has been found sufiicient to provide the relationship shown in Fig. 3 to accomplish the ends of the present invention and eliminate any harmful wrinkling of the workpieces.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A work support for leather workpieces comprising two pivotally connected members having work supporting surfaces, said members being movable to bring said surfaces into a substantially horizontal plane oraninverted V-form, the portion of said members forming supporting surfaces being spaced apart at the pivotal connection and terminating below the center of said connection when in inverted V-fOfID.

2. A work support for leather workpieces comprising two pivotally connected members having work supporting surfaces, said members being movable to bring said surfaces into a substantially horizontal plane or an inverted V-form, the portion of said members forming supporting surfaces being spaced apart at the pivotal connection and terminating below the center of said connection when in inverted V-forrn, and a flexible member which interconnects said pivotally connected members, said flexible member, when said supporting surfaces are in V-form, providing a regularly curved further supporting surface which lies below the center of said pivotal connection.

3. A work support for leather workpieces comprising two pivotally connected members having work supporting surfaces, and means for controlling movement of said members to bring said surfaces into a substantially horizontal plane or an inverted V-form, the portion of said members forming supporting surfaces being spaced apart at the pivotal connection and terminating below the center of said connection when in inverted V-form.

No references cited. 

